chuck, are you there? are you ready to go? is chuck todd there. >> i'm here. >> are we out early? >> you gave me 14 seconds. look at that. on the road again today president obama kicks off a two-day trip through the crucial states of ohio and pennsylvania. the romney camp is dispatching two veep wannabes. is it a penalty or a tax? mitt romney speaks out on the commotion sparked by his top adviser on our show monday but his answer raises even more questions. is romney trying to have it both ways? does this issue affirm what some conservatives fear about his candidacy from the get-go? and a voting mess in harlem. congressman charlie rangel blasts his challenger for demanding a recount. but the vote margin has been shrinking and there are still more uncounted ballots out there. good morning from washington. it's thursday, july 5th. 2012. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. i had no idea this show would be

as busy as it is today. let's get right to my first read of the morning. even if mitt romney runs the table winning every other battleground state he has no pat to 270 unless he wins one swing state in the rust belt midwest. iowa to wisconsin, pennsylvania. iowa, pennsylvania and michigan in between. the president is kicking off a two-day bus tour of ohio and pennsylvania. aimed at selling the struggling economy to a white working class voters and is bringing a tax on romney's private sector experience to bringing capital to place where's the campaign thinks it will resonate. the president's first bus tour of the 12012 campaign will coincide with this week's most important political event. the release of the june jobs report tomorrow. both ohio and pennsylvania had unemployment rates below the national average in may. 7.3% and 7.4% respectively. this betting on america bus tour will fake america across the ohio belt with stops in

maume,and sandusky today. and hold one in parma tonight. and tomorrow he makes several more stops many ohio before ending the tour in pittsburgh. the president won pennsylvania by 11 poibtsz in 2008 and ohio by 5, both states likely to be more competitive this time around. while the campaign bloefs swing voters may not be happy with the economy they can create an a. contrast to make romney unacceptable alternative for those decided and anxious voters. playing ads like this one on outsourcing nonstop and trying to call attention to a new story in "vanity fair" and how much of that fortune may sit in tax shelters outside of america. now, the campaign calls attention to the story again this morning in a new video with, quote, man on the street quotes." >> i don't know if he's doing that because he's trying to shelter his money from taxes or whether he just doesn't believe

in the american economy. but either way it's not a very good sign. >> and now you understand the whole betting on america theme of this bus trip. it's got a number of layers, because the president is also going to talk about the auto bailout. now, two names mentioned as possible romney running mates. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty and louisiana governor bobby jindal are there in their states to rebut the attacks. they have the unglamorous job of trailing the president through ohio and pennsylvania on what the romney campaign calls a broken promises tour. in romney prebutted the president in part of that interview tape with cbs yesterday. >> the reason i'm run for president is that i believe i have the experience and know-how and vision to help americans, to have the middle class american. the president is going on the a bus tour. he's got no new answers. i've laid out what i do to get this economy going and as long as i can continue to speak about the economy, i'm going to win. >> well, this is the news going

forward. of course, the big story in this campaign has been what's been going on in the last six days. after 48 hours of silence from his campaign romney conceded yesterday that the health care mandate is, as republicans have insisted, attacks and not as a senior adviser eric told me on monday, a penalty. romney was caught on a rope line in new hampshire, and hoarse what he said. >> the supreme court is the final word, right? the highest court in the land. they said it was a tax, didn't they? >> so it's a tax, of course. >> as you can see it was a concession. he sort of conceding the point, not necessarily glorifying it. but he made the same concession in an interview taped earlier in the day with cbs news where he also took panes to try to argue it was the supreme court that caused him to have to change his view on this issue. >> i said that i agreed with the dissent. and the dissent made it very clear that they felt it was unconstitutional. but the dissent lost. it's in the minority.

and so now the supreme court has spoken. there's no way around that. you can try and say you wish they would have decided a different way, but they didn't. they concluded it was a tax. that's what was it is. >> that point defending the view of the mandate is a penalty by saying romney agreed with conservative justices on the court is a line of defense fehrnstrom shared with me monday. but he dent further. >> the governor believes what we put in place in massachusetts was a penalty and disagrees with the court's rule that the mandate was a tax. again -- >> so he agreed with the president -- he agrees with the president that it is not -- and he believes that you shouldn't call the tax penalty a tax, you should call it a penalty or a fee or a fine? >> that's correct. >> well, yesterday in a series of verbal gymnastics romney tried to explain why a mandate is a tax nationally but a penalty on the state level in massachusetts.

>> the chief justice in his opinion made it very clear that at the state level, states have the power to put in placeman dates. they don't need to require them to be called taxes in order for them to be constitutional and, as a result, massachusetts mandate was a mandate, was a penalty, was described that way by be legislature and by me, so it stays as it was. >> remember, congress described the tax as a penalty, not a tax as well use that same ju justificati justification. however, of course, the massachusetts state supreme court didn't weigh in. the obama campaign jumped on romney's comments. called him a flip-flopper and said, first, first he threw his top aide eric fehrnstrom under the bus, second he contradicted himself calling the mandate not a tax. he didn't necessarily throw fehrnstrom under the bus. they were both saying the same thing. what romney essentially did 48 hours after what eric fehrnstrom told us, he conceded, fine, if

the supreme court is going to call it a tax, then we'll call it a tax. now you see the problem it's creating among conservatives. let's move to there. the penalty versus tax episode highlight what's many conservatives see as romney's fundamental flaw. they simply don't trust him, eshl when it comes to health care. look no further than tad's scathing wall street editorial which slams romney's tax confusion, unquote. the editorial comes out just days or the paper's owner rupert murdoch, i'm not implying anything there, they don't do this same thing but it comes at the same time that rupert said he had doubts about romney's staff. the journal's editorial board writing, quote, this latest mistake is of a piece with the campaign's insular staff and strategy that are slowly squandering an historic opportunity if romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the white house by saying the economy stinks and it's mr. obama's fault. romney promised republicans he was the best man to make the case against president obama, whom they desperately want to defeat.

so far mr. romney is letting them down. the editorial also went down to john kerry comparison road. even took a shot at romney fot photo-op. in short, it was a brutal takedown and conservatives now have their told you so moment if romney does end up losing in november. what's interesting there is laura ingram yesterday on her radio show hit the jet ski comment. others have picked up on this on the right as well. finally, don't miss this nugget that romney was asked by cbs, whether he would still nominate a justice in the mold of john roberts to the court now that roberts has upheld the health care law. >> i certainly wouldn't nominate something who i knew would come out with a decision that i vehemently disagreed with and he reached a conclusion, i think, that was not accurate, not an appropriate conclusion. but that being said, he's a very bright person and i look for individuals that have intelligence and believe in following the constitution. >> and asked whether he was troubled by report that claims

john roberts might have switched his vote, romney went further. >> it gives the impression that the decision was not made based upon constitutional foundation, but instead political consideration about the relationship between the branches of government. but we won't really know the afternoonses to those things until the justice himself speaks out. we'll see if that interview does anything to put to bed the uneasiness that conservatives have with romney on health care. but it's also worth noting, health care was never really litigated in the republican primaries. at least mitt romney and the issue of health care. we're not the only one awaiting tomorrow's unemployment numbers. the markets are watching very closely, too. since we're about 20 minutes away from the opening bell, we'll get a market run down now. cnbc's courtney reagan is here. is it courtney? >> it is. >> i was told it was going to be jackie and now i've got you you. no offense, glad to see, you courtney. >> nice to be with you, chuck. you know, futures actually have

taken a little bit of dive here about 20 minutes ahead of that opening bell on some somewhat negative comments out of the ecb. and a day ahead of the june's jobs report as you noted we do have a number of other employment indicators out this morning. global out placement consult tansy firm say job cuts are at a 13-month low. that's good news. according to adp, a private sector payrolls increased, stronger than expected 176,000 for the month of june. and the number of americans filing for unemployment benefits fell by 14,000 to 374,000. so some relatively good news there for the jobs picture ahead of the big jobs report tomorrow. and we're getting a number of monetary moves out of europe this morning. traders are paying attention to them, so i want to make sure we take note that the bank of england leaving the key interest rate unchanged. the ecb and the bank of china also cutting their key interest rates. and retailers are reporting

their june same-store sales today. chuck, pretty disappointing, and those expectations were already pretty low. hot water. we had the tropical storm debby that didn't help and this economic sluggishness keeping people with their spending close at hand. back to you. >> courtney, thank you very much. check in tomorrow. it will be a big day. up next, the summer showdown on the campaign trail. so let's bring in jay mar, the boys of summer to discuss the candidates ploys of summer. see what we did there? plus, wrangrang rang was palest leader yasser arafat poisoned? if he was, who did it? first, a look ahead at the t president's schedule. as you know, busy schedule today. ohio, ohio, ohio, ohio. quick stop over in pennsylvania, but we'll see what the campaign says, how serious that stop is. you're watching the "daily rundown." [ female announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role

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it's dueling bus tours. president obama hits the road. key battleground state of hn. as well as pennsylvania. as we told you, mitt romney potential vice presidential pick, trailing close behind in the rolling rebuttal tour. joining me now, msnbc contributor and politico's reporter jonathan martin. boys? >> hi, chuck. >> the boys of summer, you like that? >> angel play. >> all right. >> let's jump on this tax issue. mitt romney and conservatives.

is this still a marriage of convenience? >> i'm struck that he's still trying to get right with the right in july. they're going to be there on election day but yet he was clearly concerned about the right and also the congressional wing of the problem because mitch o'connell and the senate republica republicans, house republican, they were having a hard time doing that when the person on top of the ticket wouldn't call eight takes. he is sort of boyibowing to thed want to get this done, make this move on july 4th. bury the news. the hope that chris was saying the jobs numbers come out friday. >> short week. short week. >> it's been, you know, three weeks. we've talked about every issue other than the economy and it's not a coincidence, i think, that romney campaign, when they're not talking about the economy and the subject is not the economy, they're on the road.

>> he is not terribly good as a spokesman on immigration or on health care or -- particularly on health care. >> two issues in particular. >> particularly on health care because he just -- the thing that i found absolutely fas it inning, if you go back and watch eric fehrnstrom's interview with you and then his interview with you yesterday. the reason that it's not a tax in massachusetts is because the supreme court hasn't ruled on massachusetts and, therefore, he can call it whatever he wants. the point -- the reality of the situation is this. he had to get right on this issue. republicans cannot give up a tax issue against barack obama. they can't do it. they understood that. they cleaned up this mess. they hope that expose -- talking tomorrow about economy, maybe. >> this expose the tension that we know is inside the romney campaign which has to do with you have a guy like eric who knows exactly how he had to deal with these battles in '02, '3,

'4, you get a sense that they feared -- if "wall street journal" editorial, they so fear the flip-flop thing they end up putting themselves in another box. >> my colleague reported that when romney was meeting this week with big wigs, including rupert murdoch he was pressing him that romney's response was i don't want to be called a flip-flopper. by way of explaining why he wouldn't move on the immigration. so you're right, because of his experience in '08 and '12 he is so conditioned to avoid anything that can give fodder to his opponents about, there he goes again. it's mitt flip-flopping. >> john roberts said this before we came on, i do not understand. he said it, i'm going to say it again because i think it's important. conservatives are going to vote against barack obama. mitt romney, it's a binary choice. if they're not going to vote for barack obama, which they're not, they're going the vote for mitt

romney. the idea that they're going to stay home, they're not going to stay home. >> the vote counts the same. they count the same. >> i don't understand why it's so -- they're so worried about the right. >> doesn't this go to the -- the whole thing -- you saw, first laura ingram went on, i think it was on fox on monday. what is he doing with the jet ski photo. she wasn't happy. "wall street journal" also went down. criticizing him, doing a comparison with john kerry and we always remember that famous kerry wind surfing. was it wind surfing or kite surfing? >> i think wind surfing. >> i thought it was kite surfing. >> we're not the kind of people who know the difference. jet skiing is one thing -- it seems to, conservatives, they have their told you so moment, win or lose, if romney loses they get to say told you so. >> of course they will. they will say we should have picked somebody who could have carried the conservative banner. they didn't have all of these issues in the past that made them very awkward. of course, the moderates, by the

way, if they lose will say, well, this is the problem, avoiding that. >> graphic reality -- >> and that's the question of, you know, do you need -- there was talk when santorum started to rise, do we need a goldwater moment. do we need a moment when conservatives get their guy, the party bottoms out. >> did you buy any of this staff shake-up business? this is all just noise? >> it's hard to eromney doing that because he would do it if he has to but i think he would certainly avoid it if he can because he does have a certain degree of loyalty to folks who will been there for some time. >> i think they deserve credit to get through that, considering what they had to run with. >> yes. yes. i've written this. i believe this 100%. he is underrated. that campaign is underrated for winning. go back and look at where he was on all issues. >> very quickly, jonathan. which vp candidate would you be today if you were in the running? jindal and pawlenty on the bus tour doing the rebuttals all day today?

would you rather be kelly ayotte to march in a parade? or rob portman who is nanlgically showing up in new hampshire saturday for primary reasons? >> i would rather be rob portman or tim pawlenty wherever i have. >> i think portman in new hampshire, it's just family. >> i think it's portman or pawlenty. i've been convinced over time that jindal is a real possibility, which i was surprise bid because i keep going back to endorsement. he endorsed rick perry and, you know, we'll see. >> i think romney has to have a relationship. and romney all but said that. romney all but said that in loyalty matters. >> yeah. >> all right. i'll stop here. >> why? we can go on. >> i thought we had a whole hour. >> i know. you can keep talking. up next, mayor michael bloomberg got a little frank at the hot dog eating contest. plus, president obama makes his little patriotism and politics at the white house. washington is the only state

named after a president approximately how state capitals are named after presidents? tweet me the answer. first correct answer will get a follow thursday from us. more is coming up on "the daily rundown." not president tallahassee. not him. i can promise you that. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about market volatility. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 in times like these, it can be tough to know which ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 way the wind is blowing. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we're ready with objective insights about ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 the present market and economic conditions. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 and can help turn those insights into ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 a plan of action that's right for you. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 so don't let the current situation take you off course. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 talk to chuck. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 i've got a nice long life ahead.

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the other stories i watching this morning, president obama worked to pitch in on the dream act in a speech to two dozen foreign born soldiers before is it septembers. he said his administration has already taken the first step of addressing the issues of children who come to this country with their presidents illeg illegally. >> we have to remain a nation of immigrants. that's why as another step

forward we're lifting the shadow of deportation from serving -- from deserving young people who were brought to this country as children. it's why we still need a dream act. it's why we need -- why america's success demands comprehensive immigration reform. >> the democratic primary involving long time new york congressman charlie rangel is getting messier by the day. today the state board of elections begins counting the ballots which is enough to erase the margin separating rangel and his chief challenger. he's gone to court with allegations of voter fraud demanding a recount or possibly possibly a whole new election. rangel responded wednesday. >> as you can see, they still don't feel comfortable enough to just go and have a good time and watch the fireworks you can't just call people quirks and say they're committing legal acts.

hold on to your breakfast nor this one. the name nicknamed jaws joe si chestnut, after eating 68 of them to secure this win at the annual fourth of july event. business rival though still not there. at the weigh in before the event, new york city mayor michael bloomberg tried to spice things up with a more than a few hot dog buns. >> let me be perfectly frank. this is one of my favorite traditions, i relish it so much. just think of how many we've got into one sentence. that was really impressive. who wrote this [ bleep ]. >> there is another genuine new york city moment. amid allegations the winning party bought votes by giving people prepaid gift cards. some 78,000 ballot boxes are being reopened and recounted. presidential front-runner says

he's confident the results won't change. investigators may exhume the body of former palestinian leader yasser arafat after new evidence suggests he might have been poisoned. the reason, recent lab test results found high levels of radioactive material that arafat wore in the days before his death in 2004. all right. president obama is ready to roll, driving from middle class votes in the industrial midwest. one day ahead of that all important june jobs report, stephanie cutter, the president's deputy campaign manager joins me next. you're watching "the daily rundown." who saw flames reach her home as her family pulled out of the driveway, this isn't just a teddy bear. it's a step towards normal. it's why allstate catastrophe teams didn't just arrive at these fires with cold water and checks to help the grown-ups start the rebuilding... they also brought thousands of these teddy bears for kids. people come first. everything else is second. [ female announcer ] allstate customers affected by the recent wildfires call 1-800-547-8676.

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by what's getting done. onmeasure commitmentvery day! the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. president obama back on the road with what they're calling a betting on america bus tour today, we told you a little bit about it earlier. trying to secure support in two states that were big wins for him in 2008. what will be tougher to capture this time around? today we focus on those states, ohio and. . . four stops in ohio will be the

president's seventh trip to the buckeye state in 2012 alone. ohio, of course, considered a toss-upstate. although they show the president with a big nine-point lead, 47%-38%. look at what the president will be stopping in maumme, lucas county, and parmo, a cleveland submit. tomorrow he visits boardman and poland, ohio. one thing to keep in mind this is very friendly territory for the president. take a look at the state's county breakdown. according to new results in 2080 election, john mccain won huge parts of ohio. that's the sea of red. the president won the cities like cleveland and toledo and ultimately two state by 4 percentage points. in fact, the four counties presented him by 27 percentage points. farm la is clear. win the cities, win the state just as he did four years ago. one thing about the toledo media market though, it is one of those few states in columbus, both of them were bush '04 media

markets and were obama '08. clearly swing media markets. moving to pennsylvania where the president hads tomorrow. right now they had this race a little tighter than ohio which is somewhat surprising. 45-39. the president in the lead there. just one stop for the president on friday. it's in pittsburgh. no surprise there. just as it was in ohio. the cities where the key to the president's pennsylvania victory 2008. a state he won by 11 points. allentown and philadelphia, the president won some counties by 20 percentage points or more. more than enough to offset losses in the rural counties. he won pittsburgh's allegheny county, 57-42. despite losing every single county around it, see pittsburgh there, an island of blue. but what is surprising about this bus tour is not that it's starting in the swing state of ohio, but that it's ending in a state where mitt romney has yet to run a stiingle tv ad since becoming the presumptive nominee. joining me now the stephanie

cutter. let me start there, where i left off. why pennsylvania? you guys seem to be more concerned about it than republicans are in targeting it. do you -- how nervous are you guys about pennsylvania? >> oh, i disagree, chuck. the president's on a bus tour all through ohio today. we're in the northeast part of the state. it just made sense to hop over to pennsylvania and touch base with those voters dl. you know, i'm sure throughout the course of this campaign we'll be back in pennsylvania again not because we're concerned about it but because we want to talk to the voter tons ground there. we feel pretty good about where we stabbed nd in pennsylvania b doubt, we will be back there. >> do you believe the conventional wisdom that the white vote in this midwest is the swing vote of this election? >> i think they're a very important part of this election. the president is going to be speaking with many of them today, as you know. i listened as you went through our bus tour route. that's the heart of the midwest. one in eight jobs in ohio is tied to the auto industry.

so it's critically important to those voters about where people stand, where the two candidates stand on the auto industry and whether -- who stood up to save it, who wanted to let it go bankrupt. today there's a article in the "toledo blade" where the president is starting his tour about new enforcement actions against china who are putting tariffs on our autos, our exports, into that country. so i think all of this, the industrial midwest, many other states, are going to be looking at this about who identifies with them, who is in touch with what's going on in their daily lives and who is fighting for them. i think it's a critically important piece of this electorate. >> i want to shift to health care. it's basically same question that's been asked of governor romney. is if mandate attacks of them? >> we asked several times in the difference between obama administration and the president and mitt romney is we've been consistent. h is a penalty administered through the tax code. it's a penalty of less than 1%

of the american public. >> does the nuance matter there? >> who can get health care and choosing not to get it. they're choosing not to get it so they're taxing you. at the end of the day it doesn't matter what we're calling this. we've been consistent about what it is. it's a penalty on the 1% that aren't getting health care and can afford to do it. contrast that with mitt romney. it's a tax, it's a penalty. i watched a power point yesterday from 2009 where mitt romney was walking through his health care law, which as you know is almost identical to the president's health care law, talking about taxing people. he just needs to figure out whether what it is on his end. we're pretty clear on our end. >> it's not clear. you're saying the same thing that governor romney said. he said he seems to be reluctantly saying, well, the supreme court said it's a tax so, fine, it's a tax. but then he says his own -- it's not what it is in massachusetts. it was a penalty. and you're saying we you're not being very clear either about this whole tax source of penalty. if you're going to hold them accountable on having to be clear of whether it's a tax

versus a penalty, i think it's only fair that you guys are just as clear. no? >> we're pretty clear. go back and look at our supreme court arguments. go back and look at everything that we have said about the president's health care law. it's a penalty. it's a penalty that's administered through the tax code. on less than 1% of the american people who are choosing not to get health care but can afford it. mitt romney can call it a tax, a penalty. we don't particularly care. we just hope he chooses one and sticks to it. >> the difference but -- hang on a minute. >> look at what has happened over the past five days. his spoerks person calls it a penalty. a couple days later after his right wing of his party rises up and criticizes him he is suddenly calling it a tax. that's what this debate is all about, whether mitt romney can take a principled position and stick with it. that's the question. >> but the difference between a tax and a penalty is a penalty means you've done something wrong. so do you believe that not buying health insurance somebody is doing something wrong? it's a supreme court decision. the way john roberts wrote it is he was making the case that,

look, it's not illegal to not buy health insurance. so, therefore, because it's not -- you're not committing some sort of misdemeanor here, it's not a penalty, it's a tax. >> no, that's not what he said. he said that there are several different ways you can go at this. and he thought, he disagreed with the commerce clause decision, but he thought that congress had the power to penalize people through the tax code. if you don't get insurance and you can afford it, congress has the power to penalize you because you're passing your cost on to everybody else. but, again, that's not really what this demand is about. this debate is about two presidential candidates, a president who is standing by his position, consistent on his position, pretty clear on his position. >> the president was -- talking candidate who was taking both sides of it over the past -- just in the last week we've seen both sides of the issue. but over the course of the in m. years when he was been putting his health care plans out there he's called it a penalty, a tax,

gone back and forth. ultimately both of these laws do the same thing. they penalize people who can afford to get health insurance but are choosing not to. they do penalize people because it means they're passing their costs off to me and you. that's what this is. >> i'm going to ask you about an ad you're currently running that has to do with you're hitting mitt romney for outsourcing. "the washington post" -- you're quoting a "washington post" story saying that, you know, this is proof, mitt romney did nothing but outsource when he was at bane. now, the same "washington post" said, gave you four pinocchios saying that what you're claiming the article said is not what the article said. it's in one of their outsourcing ads before the article ran, in fact, earned four pinocchios. there's little in the post article that backs up the obama campaign spin. you know, if there's not passing the fact checker, do you feel as if you have to redo your ads? >> i'm not understanding -- so if we're not passing the "washington post" fact checker we should redo our ads?

>> a lot of fact checkers say the ads are a little over the top, a bit misleading. you've taken issue when romney has done this to you. >> sure. we feel pretty comfortable with the ads that we have up for a couple reasons. mitt romney oversaw bane capital. we all know that. bane capital invested in companies that were pioneers in outsour outsourcing. that's a known fact. what's what "the washington post" reported. mitt romney has made millions of dollars, personal profit, out of outsourcing. the second thing that some of these fact checkers take issue with is when romney left bane. he said he left before the olympics. there are plenty of records out there, whether it's s.e.c. files, his own words, his own attorney's words, that show he didn't leave bane until 2001. and many cases occurred between the time he said he left for the olympics in 2001 of outsourcing. so we're just -- you know, we believe that these ads are fact chul. we believe these ads tell an

important story about mitt romney, how he's made his money, what his beliefs are in our economic system. don't just look at those ads, chuck, look at his policies today and what he did in massachusetts. he outsourced state jobs in massachusetts. his policies today encourage outsourcing. he has a chance to fix it. he has a chance to show, no, i'm for the american worker, i want to bring american jobs back here but he won't. his policies don't do that. he doesn't say that. >> if you were advising a democrat running for the house and senate, would you advise them to skip the democratic convention or go to the democratic convention? >> i would advise them to do whatever they think is best. some are skipping it because they want to spend the time campaigning. some are going to go. and enjoy it. so it's ultimately a personal decision. this happens every four years. it's happening on the republican side, too. so either way is not a big deal. >> so you don't take the campaign doesn't take personal offense? >> no. not at all. >> all right. stephanie cutter, deposition any campaign manager for the president's re-election. thanks for coming on this

morning. >> thank you. all right. you're looking at live pictures here of andrews air force base where president obama is about to take off for ohio. doing a bus tour, he's heading out for two days in both ohio and then a quick stop in pennsylvania. be right back with our political panel, but first, the white house soup of the day. white chicken chili. you can follow us on facebook. apparently it's still the thing to do. you're watching "the daily rundo rundown" on msnbc. it's about time we made our homes work for us. so let's make our dryers do the ironing. have our fridges cater our parties. and tell our ranges to whip up dinner. let's plug in to summer savings before they're gone... ...without wasting an ounce of energy with smart machines that turn housework into house play. more saving. more doing.

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american jobs during his time in private equity. my panel today, e.d. stod dard is associated with "the hill" and political editor of the political report and contributing writer for roll call. let me start with you. the president took three days downtime, 2 1/2. now back on the road. i get the sense, and i noticed it with laura ingram, you see a little tweak of it in the "wall street journal" editorial, that some conservatives are a little concerned that romney's down too long this week. >> yeah, and i think the obama attacks on romney is what chris was talking about earlier, it's all about keeping the focus on romney, but i think the romney is trying to present this, i am a normal person and by going on vacation, like most americans were over the last couple of days, i think trying to project that image, you know, as part of his strategy. >> it didn't help though that he ended up having to deal with this over health care. >> right. obviously could have been

avoided. i am amazed when that decision came out on thursday, which, a, they were surprised by ultimately the law being upheld, but the way it was done because shocker. why didn't they pull more all nighters last weekend and send eric fehrnstrom out on monday to reverse it. that's why you see such frustration among conservatives about this flip-flop. this is an etch-a-sketch. >> when you -- you have advised a lot of candidates, and what is worse, having to basically take an issue off the table that maybe excites your base or being tagged as flip-flopper? and it was clear that romney's campaign team was worried about the flip-flopper part. they're always -- the "wall street journal" editorial page says, hey, they over-worry about that but he was clearly worried about that. if you're advising a candidate, what is worse? >> interesting question. what i would say is, listen, this base is going to be plenty unified by the decision itself

and by barack obama. let's worry about the character of the candidate as a whole new set of voters are getting to learn about you. and what's just amazing here is they alternate between these strategies and then they discuss it publicly or they have their friends tweet it, friends like that you don't need. and so, you know, we have this dialogue here, the few times he comes off of vacation saying, well, i don't want to be a flip-flopper, then flip-flopping, then not flip-flopping. it's just amazing. every time he's coming off vacation he's making a mistake. >> nathan, it was a little torture, his logic. >> a little. >> messy. even what he said yesterday, they're saying the federal law is a tax but basically they didn't adjudicate the state law. >> it's messy but you know what stephanie was talking about before, they don't want to talk about health care, they want to talk about the character issues and flip-flopping because there are a lot of republican strategists saying let's have an election of health care. look at 20 10. that's why you're saying the obama pivot to character rather than health care. >> it seems that this bus tour

that is an underlying theme here they're trying to get at, is hitting on character, betting on america on one hand, sure, he's going to talk about the auto bailout. he's going to do the china hit today, the president is, they also want to talk about outsourcing and they keep talking about the "vanity fair" piece. >> the bain ads are working and we've noticed that. they are convincing voters. you hear it in focus groups. people say, that's the guy who closed plants. he looks like a guy who would fire me. this is really an effective attack. at the margins where this electoral will be decided, all the right nine states, if romney doesn't do something aggressively to defend against it soon, it will be the permanent image of him. >> the small group of swing voters in these states appear to be the anxiety voters. >> that's right. >> anxious about the economy. they've never felt a personal connection to president obama. >> right. >> if the republicans nominate the one guy that makes president obama more touchy feely? >> they did. in fact, the thing that is really amazing here is the real

character issue is, is romney in the whole last week look like he's in touch at all with an anxious waitress mom who has a blue collar education and her husband is out of work at least one year in the last three years? does he look like he gets it at all? no. and neither does him.all? no, and neither does ann. >> interesting comments ann made about the obama campaign. >> how many state capitals are named after presidents. the answer is four. jackson, mississippi, lincoln, nebraska, jefferson city, mississippi and madison, wisconsin. we'll be right back. you are watching "the daily rundown" and no, there was no president santa fe. you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on whether it's finding new customers,

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it was kill romney. that was the memo that came out from the campaign.

it's like not when i'm next to him you better not. >> striking comments from ann romney. i will start with you. everybody expects a spouse to stand by their candidate. no doubt about it. she is quoting one article she is referring to a few months back that quoted one adviser that the campaign said pulled back on at the time. that was a rough way for her to say it. i had plenty of people say what if michelle obama said something unpopular like that. >> she much more popular than the president himself, but she is a very compelling political figure and she's his best asset and i said that was a good mama bear moment. i don't think it would be taken the wrong way. >> i think it looks like she is

defending him, but making her political. her strength is -- >> that she is not political. >> right. a mother and grandmother and the diseases she dealt with and that makes her compassionate and real. this didn't. >> the other part is they don't know him yet. you don't know him yet. that has been her mantra a little bit. that's what where she has been. all these national introduce make sure she sits with him. the more people get to know romney, that may not be a benefit. the focus of the romney campaign should be to talk about obama and ann romney. people are going to focus on mitt. the further away from the spotlight, the more she will be. >> shameless plug. >> one of the things not being talked about enough is the change for the 2018 elections

and the 2016 elections and the change in the demographics and the amount of unmarried voters and the amount of -- >> single versus married voters. >> my sister started help found a new business called project decor and a revolution in online design and a new addiction for everyone. >> that was an interesting segment. the god particle and that. >> sports and my friend. a story in the washingtonian and an ongoing legal battle. he is his own council. >> how about that. i forgot to plug the gospel according to fix. that's it for this edition. the jobs report. a lot of breaking news from the june unemployment report and first reactions from the white

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